Jean "Johnny" Pigozzi (born 1952), heir to the CEO of the automobile brand Simca, is an art collector, photographer and fashion designer. He lives in Geneva.[1][2]
Pigozzi started collecting contemporary African art after visiting the show "Magiciens de la Terre" at the Pompidou Center and Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris in 1989. He has since assembled the world's largest private collection of contemporary African art, together with French curator André Magnin. It is known as the Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC – the Pigozzi Collection (www.caacart.com), and is based in Geneva.[1][2] It doesn't have a permanent venue opened to the public, but has been exhibited in over sixty museums and art events around the world, such as the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston; the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco; the National Museum of African Art in Washington D.C.; the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; the Pinacoteca Giovanni and Marella Agnelli in Turin, Italy; the Tate Modern in London; the Cartier Foundation in Paris, Paris, the Grand Palais in Paris, the Louis Vuitton Fondation in Paris, The MoMA in NY, The Venice Biennale, Venice, Documenta, Cassel, etc.
In 2006, he also started the JaPigozzi Collection of contemporary Japanese art (japigozzi.com) by young Japanese artists.[2]
Pigozzi began taking pictures age seven. Since then, he never stopped photographing everything around him, which meant friends, dogs, icebergs, himself and a great many celebrities. His first solo exhibition of photography was at Musée d’art moderne, Paris (1974). His photographs have since been shown worldwide.
2010: Johnny Stop!, Gagosian Gallery, New York, 2010; Colette, Paris, 2010; SEM-ART Gallery, Monaco, 2012.
2010: Clic Gallery, St. Barths
2011: Pigozzi, STOP ! You're too close, Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow
2012: Unseen International Art Fair, Galerie Alex Daniels-REFLEX, Amsterdam
2013: Johnny's Diary - Photographies de Jean Pigozzi, Galerie du Jour, Agnesb, Paris
2013: Photographs featured in a film short directed by Brett Ratner for Vanity Fair's 100th Anniversary.[6]
2014: My World, Jean Pigozzi, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing
2016: Johnny's Pool, Jean Pigozzi, Gagosian Gallery, New York City, 2016; The Baker Museum, Naples, Florida, 2016; Galerie Gmurzynska, St. Moritz, Switzerland, 2017; Helmut Newton Foundation, Berlin, Germany,
2017:Galerie Gmurzynska, St. Moritz (2017), and the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin.
2018:Scai The Bathhouse, Tokyo (2018), Immagis Fine Art Photography, Munich, and Pilevneli Gallery, Istanbul
Fashion
In 2007, Pigozzi created a clothing and accessories line featuring bright colors and prints called LimoLand, with the intention of designing clothing for those who “Live to Create”.[3] He is also the creative director of the brand.[7] As of 2010, LimoLine was sold in upscale department stores such as Bloomingdale's, Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman, and Nordstrom and had a boutique store in New York City.[3] Pigozzi draws the sketches and outsources the technical aspects of the design and creation of his line.[3]
Television show
"My Friends call Me Johnny" (2014)[8] an interview program, debuted September 3, 2014 on Esquire Network.
The 223 Most Important Men in My Life, 2019, Damiani, ISBN9788862086714
Publications by others
Arts of Africa: The Contemporary Collection of Jean Pigozzi. 2005. André Magnin. ISBN88-7624-296-1.
African Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection. 2005. André Magnin; Alison De Lima Greene; Alvia Wardlaw; Thomas McEvilley. ISBN1-85894-289-6.
Jean Pigozzi, dans la peau d'un collectionneur, Catherine Grenier, 2017, Flammarion, ISBN2081413191
Les Initiés, Un choix d'oeuvres dans la collection d'art contemporain africain de Jean Pigozzi, 2017, Dilecta, Fondation Louis Vuitton, ISBN2373720353